Richard Linklater has been doing the rounds for his latest movie, Before Sunset, a sequel to his 1995 indie favorite Before Sunrise, that opens in major cities this weekend. While in town, he talked to Coming Soon about his latest passion, his animated adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly, starring Keanu Reeves:

CS!: What is this movie about?

Linklater: “It’s kind of a drug movie. It’s set in the near future in the middle of a drug epidemic. It’s going to be animated. I just shot the live action portion, but ultimately, it’s an animated film using a similar rotoscoping process that I used in Waking Life. It’s the same software, but it’s been updated. [Animator] Bob Sabiston continues to work on it, so the animation is at an interesting place. It will have a different look that I think will work with the story well. I’ve been wanting to do another animated film, so I’m glad I got the chance.”

CS!: What made you want to do this movie? Were you a big science fiction fan?

Linklater: “I was as a teenager, but I let it go a long time ago. I can’t say that I am in a typical sense, but I do like Phillip K. Dick and I’ve read quite a bit of his stuff. A Scanner Darkly is one of my favorites of his, because it seemed the most personal. I was lucky enough to get an option on it a few years ago, so I just wrote an adaptation of it and thought it would be an interesting animated movie. It’s not really that science fiction either. To me, it has one science fiction element, but beyond that, it’s pretty realistic. I love that about Dick’s stuff: paranoia plus a generation equal reality. It’s like we’re living in his science fiction as we speak, so it seemed really timely to me.”

CS!: Many of Phillip K. Dick’s stories have been turned into action films. What is going to be your take on this one?

Linklater: “A lot of Phillip K. Dick’s stories and novels have always been adapted, but usually, they are taking some cool idea and making it work in some genre like an action film, and that can work. I like that novel so much that I wanted to do that story and I want to be very faithful and tell the whole story. What drives me crazy is that I think Phil K. Dick is hilarious. He’s a really funny writer. I laugh when I read the books or I chuckle, and I wanted to make a movie like that. It’s really darkly funny. I’m kind of making a comedy, but it’s a weird comedy. Who knows how I pull it off, but I approached it like that. I hung out with his daughters a lot, and they liked my approach to it. They liked that someone was actually doing the story, not just plucking an idea and running with it. This is the story. This is that book. It feels pretty good. Keanu is great as Bob [Arctor], the lead character. He’s an interesting guy. His thinking is such that I thought he would be perfect.”

Richard Linklater, who is directing a film adaptation of SF author Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly, told SCI FI Wire that he's mining the unexpected comedic potential of the late writer's work. "Philip K. Dick is very funny," Linklater said in an interview. "You wouldn't know it necessarily from the movies that have been filmed on his stories and books, but I've always thought Dick was hilarious. It's very dark comedy, a funny sensibility in so much of his stuff. So I'm going for that. And it's a good, creepy, timely story."

Dick's novel tells the story of a future in which America has lost the war on drugs. Keanu Reeves plays a narcotics officer seeking a drug dealer who turns out to be a alternate version of himself. Since Scanner was a novel, Linklater feels the film will be more faithful than those based on Dick's short stories.

"I'm trying to tell the story he told," Linklater said. "No one else has really tried to do that too much, because what they ve usually done is taken an idea, like the core idea, and then they usually put it into a genre and make it work in a more genre-typical sense. Some really great movies have been made from that stuff. But that wasn't my take on this movie, because it's not really an action film. It's primarily a character piece." Warner Independent Pictures will release A Scanner Darkly in the fall of 2005.

I'm still reading ASD and it's definitely full of humor. Some of it is esoteric drug-culture-related but if you get it, you just have to laugh. I'm enjoying picturing some of the scenes (Downey is going to be perfect as Barris) as I read them.

Contains slight spoilers, snarks on Keanu and abuse of the !!!! and ???? keys.

The question remains to Hellblazer fans: How true to character is John Constantine in comparison to ! the comic version? FACTS: Not English, Not blond, No accent, Should be about Sting's age, Should not have a Holy shot gun/weapon, setting does not take place in England (Liverpool), No OVERT CUSSING- AND John loves to do that! Chaz should be older and not a side-kick, etc....... Does that about cover it??????

What is captured that holds/remains true to Hellblazer fans out there: John is a HARD-CORE prolific smoker, dark, gothic, loathsome character, guilt-ridden catholic, subtle sexuality in bed, expels demons through exorcisms, travels to hell and back, cunning and saavy with satan who wants his soul sooooooo bad that is willing to personally come up for it, dark, mysterious past paying his debt to eventually save his own soul, and has lung cancer. There are awesome special effects (demons and other hell scenes), Angel Gabriel is androgenous and he/she ought to be. Satan is awesome.

According to SHH and AICN there was a test screening of Constantine over the weekend and some good buzz is coming in.

"Judging this movie as a stand-alone film, it's a thoroughly entertaining, dark, supernatural action-thriller. Keanu reeves rebounds from the MATRIX sequels with a film/character that isn't nearly as bad-ass or ground-breaking as the first installment of Wachowski brothers' trilogy, but certainly delivers some goods. And Francis Lawrence's directorial debut signals the dawn of film-maker's career whom I think is going to fast become an A-lister." -AICN

"The movie is a trip. And when asked on the questionnaire what scenes I liked the least, I couldn't think of one. There are only two cinematic views of Hell that I've seen that I've ever liked. The one from "What Dreams May Come" and this one. If that's what Hell will be like, thanks but no thanks Satan, I think that party is for someone else. I'll take Heaven. The paranormal and religious themes were heavy and several of them had the audience jumping like I haven't seen since I saw the re-release of "The Exorcist" in theatres a year or so ago. I wouldn't recommend going into the show expecting to see something along the lines of realism such as "The Exorcist", just see it for the thrill of jumping out of your seat a lot. See it for the humor - most every scene involving John Constantine and a demon in the movie is great, filled with sarcasm like I love - , see it for a good ride, a little suspense - a lot of fun, and a Lucifer, played by Peter Stormare (Lev the Russi an Cosmonaut from Armageddon) that is awesome." -AICN

There are some slight spoilers in the AICN reports, and there are a few more details that *shock* dissappoint the Hellblazer fans, but the sneak peekers judged the movie on its own merits and seemed to like it quite a bit, so...you know, yay!

All in all though, this news sounds pretty promising and I'm all popcorn and pom-poms enthusiastic about these first reactions. Especially the good things about Keanu's performance.

Tonight I'm going to see The Doors (of the 21st Century) in concert at the Sunset Station. The lineup consists of original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger. Ian Astbury, formerly of The Cult I believe, is singing. I had hoped that Stu Copeland would be playing drums, but that's not the case. Ty Dennis is.

Anyway, I googled the bass player, Angelo Barbera.

Now, along with playing bass in an incarnation of one of the greatest bands in rock history, Angelo plays in an LA rock band called I-94. I-94 was formed by British mates Mark Arnell (lead vocal) and Danny Martin* (drums/ background vocals). These guys? Formerly a band called Bottlefly....who opened for Dogstar the very first time I saw them.

At the Sunset Station.

Sometimes I think the universe just likes to mess with me.

*I had the chance to hang out after a Bottlefly show once and Danny said I was "a funny one then, aren't you?" I think I still have one of his drumsticks somewhere.

Now, I'm positively clueless about how Hollywood works, but as I understand it if you're someone famous and recognizable you don't go to The Ivy for lunch if you don't want to be photographed.

So what's the deal? How am I supposed to sustain my uppity self-righteous anti-razzi attitude when there's not a goddamned thing to blog and my nose is rubbed in this sort of thing? Huh? HUH?

I know you're not stupid, Reeves. You coy motherfucker. I can only guess that this was some sort of trade-off to keep the shutterbugs off of your doorstep. Or maybe you're up for a project and need to get that scruffy mug on a page six somewhere. The waving is a nice touch.

Foxy like a craze.

Oh! Maybe you're a SPY! and there's some sort of message encoded in your beard growth and the way you're holding the cigarette. Brilliant, except now I've cracked your cypher and you have to go back to transmitting via your bass frequency morse pulses once again.

Fine. You obviously know what you're doing.

I'll link to the photos, but not because I'm OK with this sort of thing, and not because of how fucking hot you look in those jeans.

You turned down the part of Neo in The Matrix - any regrets?
You know, The Matrix is a difficult concept to pitch. In the pitch, I just didn't see it. I watched Keanu's performance - and very rarely do I say this - but I would have messed it up. I would have absolutely messed up The Matrix. At that point I wasn't smart enough as an actor to let the movie be. Whereas Keanu was smart enough to just let it be. Let the movie and the director tell the story, and don't try and perform every moment.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Wal-Mart is famous for the stingy pay and benefits it offers its employees. But another giant chain store, Costco, is the opposite. It's so good to its workers that some business gurus disapprove. "From the perspective of investors, Costco's benefits are overly generous," says retail analyst Bill Dreher, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. He thinks the company's benevolence depresses its stock value because investors are afraid its profit margins aren't as high as they could be. But the fact is that Costco is very successful, and its five-year growth rate has been 10.1 percent annually, better than Wal-Mart's 9.8 percent. All this is preface, Virgo, for my warning that your gifts may also be criticized in the coming week. Be unfazed, please. Have faith that the best way to build your prosperity is to cultivate your generosity.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I never did find any of the cheap-yet-tasty wine. Vodka Sunday was bumped to Saturday this week, so as to be merely hungover for brunch with daddy, as opposed to completely lit.

For anyone that's interested, there's a new track at the Vibemerchants site, Ultra Mellow.

Due to an annoying amount of spam and viruses I've begun to receive, I'm going to have to retire my krix at keanuvision dot com email. Please remove both it and blog at keanuvision dot com from your address books.

Thanks to the wonderful Kat, I have a brand new shiny Gmail address, so please use it if you need to reach me.

Gosh, can we get someone to post something at MetaFilter for a hat trick?

You know, I have no desire to delve into one of these discussions, I've beaten my head against that wall before. I pick my battles and stay tenacious on my own turf. Besides, he doesn't need me or anyone else to champion him to the masses. If Keanu Reeves cared what some people said, he'd have stopped rolling with the punches a long time ago.

It is interesting to read what people outside of the fandom circles are saying about him and his projects, though. Oh sure, there's the usual cheap-shotting haters, but it's not all bad. The Matrix earned him the props from most of the geek community, and he's still revered by many simply for Ted.

And I really think that his work in ASD is going to blow everyone, including us longtime fans, away.

*the key to reading /. is in the use of the threshold feature. The worthwhile discussion rises to the top at level 4 or 5.

They just mentioned Keanu on The Today Show in a segment on Hollywood and stupid unusual baby names. I love his name and think his parents made a great choice. Mentioning the Cool Breeze was out of place in the spot which talked about Zowie Bowie and the Zappa kids and some of the interesting choices that some famous folks have made for thier kids. Remind me to ask Rob Morrow about naming his daughter Tu if I ever meet him. Evidently the Cox-Arquettes named their new baby, Coco. Which I think is a little cute even though it makes me think of a poodle.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your theme this week is careen-stable. Here's Rebecca Rusche to tell you of the term's origin and how to recognize when it shows up in your life. "In high school, my mom used to let me use her VW Beetle to go to basketball practice. One night after practice, a friend and I were chatting and drinking Coke when we decided to see how fast we could get the Beetle going down a nearby dirt road. Soon we were careening at 65 mph, shouting 'careen!' every time we hit a bump and went flying into the air. When we arrived back at the gym and got out of the car half an hour later, we saw my Coke can sitting on the front bumper next to the license plate. I nudged it softly to see if it was lodged in there somehow, but it fell right off -- wasn't stuck at all. I thought, 'There must be a word for this magic,' and thus 'careen-stable' was born. It came to mean anything that maintains its poise in the midst of wild, fast movement."

And you knew that now my beloved 24 is done for the season, my Tuesday nights would be free.

OH! And I know you KNEW that if you put a psuedo-Keanu doing a little Neoish jump-kick in the promo of your new show Next Action Star, that I would probably tune in.

Damn you to hell. And take Mark Burnett with you.

I've been trying to limit my reality TV intake. Oh sure, I'll watch Survivor (though not another "All-Star" season, fuck those crybabies) and it's a little known fact that my twisted love for the evil Dr. Will of BB2 is what indirectly introduced me to blogging, but I have my limits. I don't watch Idol Search or Average Bachelor. I avoid anything that insults my intelligence by trying to convince me that a bunch of famewhores are on national TV looking for L-O-V-E (OK, I watched The Littlest Groom, but OMG how could I not?). I used to watch Fear Factor just because Roi and I would call each other on commercial breaks to go "eewwwwwwwww!!!", but really, you can only watch a playmate eat a horse testicle so many times.

I blame that I was already in reality mode due to tuning into The Casino (which as a Las Vegan, I HAVE to watch. Otherwise they will send someone over to break my knees) and last night I found myself watching the special audition episode of Next Action Star. I'm not sure what hooked me, maybe the fact that they invoked Keanu's name more than once. Maybe it was Joel's sweet baritone stroking my psyche, reminding me over and over that one man AND one woman will win this show and go on to STAR in a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE. It's a dream come true, working with Joel. He told me himself.

Anyway, they held auditions all over the country and there were your usual looks into the wannabes hopes and dreams. Apparently all you needed was the ability to kick down a door and do a summersault and you got to be seen. Oh, and the pretend gun gesture (hands together, index fingers pointing at your imaginary foe), you had to know that. There were good tryouts, there were great tryouts, there were laughable tryouts. I'm not invested enough to have caught the names of the judges, but that blonde woman?(and I bet Keanu knows her) Wow, what a bitch. The one that called everyone (starting with the nelly muscle boy) "Sugar" wasn't as bad, but still pretty catty. I hope we're done with them. Tonight they move the wannabes into a big house in Hollywood and start dropping them off rooftops into pools of fire or something. I can't wait.

As far as the contenders go, at this point I'm rooting for that really intense Brando-esque guy from NY, Yale drama grad Reggie ("fan man") and the girl who one of the judges said had a "black widow" quality. I wish I could root for Viviane in her Matrix coat, but I know I'll end up hating her. And her boobs. Also, special mention should go to Matt T. (You know which one I'm talking about) because you KNOW the unenlightened are going to compare him to Keanu.

A Scanner Darkly is one of our father's most personal stories because much of it is based on his own experiences. For this reason, it was especially important to us that it be done with all of the right intentions. His struggle with drug abuse is well documented, and he (and we) have witnessed many casualties. The novel is filled with his humor and his own tragedies. And we believe that Richard's screenplay manages to capture these key elements -- he has even included our father's poignant afterword in his adaptation.

After agreeing that this project was the right way to go, we were delighted to hear that this group of gifted actors would be playing the characters: Keanu Reeves as Arctor, Winona Ryder as Donna, Robert Downey Jr. as Barris, Woody Harrelson as Luckman, and Rory Cochrane as Freck. We think each person brings a unique quality and passion to the project. Laura and I visited the set during filming and had a chance to speak with the actors about some of the more personal aspects of this story. Without exception, every person we spoke to -- actors, producers, and crew was entirely gracious and enthusiastic about the work of Philip K. Dick. They have welcomed our input, and made us feel a part of this project.

Go here to read the whole message from Laura and Isa and for more photos from the set.

I'm so happy that the production has their support and I'm even more excited about Keanu's involvement in this film. It's gonna be huge.

The buzz backstage is electric, she says. "It’s like a rock star social club, everyone swapping touring stories and catching up with people they haven’t seen for ages. It’s a constant stream of limos and tour buses."

But not everyone arrives in rock star transport. "Keanu Reeves turned up a couple of years ago on the shuttle bus with all the festival goers. I had this call from the gate saying, ‘There’s a guy here says he’s one of the artists’. We went down, quite curious, and there was Keanu Reeves and his band, Dogstar." Apparently no one on the bus had recognised him - or they hadn’t let on. "He was quite content sitting on the bus, reading his paper and soaking up the atmosphere."

Becky's own Paulie is listed as "confirmed" as a goaltender for the event and our favorite goalie, Keanu is listed as "hopeful". Also in the "hopefuls" is becky's Rebecca, in line to play that all-important power position of Recording Artist. Actually, maybe they'll take my suggestion from last year and let her sing the National Anthem?

This morning? I don't ever want to do it again.
But I'm sure that will change by Sunday night's practice.

We thought we would be going on first, at 10pm, but the pecking order at The Cooler on weeknights is that the first 2 timeslots are the desirable ones (because people have to leave earlier). So we went on much later than we thought we would and most of the people that showed up to see us ended up having to leave. That sucked. (Brittany must have invited 25+ people, at 10:00 the place was jammed with her friends and co-workers) We finally went on around midnight, most of our friends had left and there were some more delays and problems setting up and when we finally started playing we probably weren't at our best.

I'm actually not sure how we sounded because all I could hear was bass. I wasn't perfect but didn't mess up royally any time and I was more annoyed at the way the whole night played out than nervous. I'm hoping next time will be less stressful and more fun.

To quote a member of one of the other bands, it was "good for a first gig." The folks that did stick it out and stay to hear us seemed to like it (though they could have just been drunk).

I'm not sure when and where Keanu first played bass for an audience, it may have been in '92 at a club called Raji's in Hollywood. A Dogstar gig that went down in history as where Weezer got it's name. (There's a little geek trivia for you.)

Anyway, I'm sure Keanu wasn't as nervous as I am today. I'm sure he didn't have a home eyebrow plucking incident the night before, giving him a perpetual quizzical look. I'm sure that he didn't lie awake until 1:30, wake up at 5am, and then couldn't go back to sleep until 6:30 and ended up DREAMING ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO SLEEP. Gah.

But I'm also sure that once he started playing he went with the moment. He probably put his head down, stood close to his amp and just let the music happen. And that's what I'm going to do tonight. I'm just going to focus on the music and get my bass on.

I'd like to thank Keanu in advance for not doing anything particularly newsworthy over the next couple days because I need to practice. If anything comes up, I'm sure the rest of theKeanurati will have it covered.

Keanu is reported to be starring in "Echo", a twelve-minute black-and-white short film directed by Stephen Hamel.

This should be good, I've always loved what Hamel captured in photographs of Keanu. Of course, for all our yard-long frozen margaritas and Penn and Teller shows, Las Vegas doesn't have an art house theater so I hope this makes it either to CineVegas or shows on IFC.

This film is based on the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus, though I'm pretty sure it will be a modern retelling, so sorry....no toga.

Narcissus was a very handsome mortal lad. All the maidens longed to be his, but he would have none of them. He wanted someone as beautiful as he was handsome. Heart broken maidens were nothing to him. Even the saddest case of the fairest nymph, Echo, did not move him. Hera happened to come inquiring where Zeus was, as she suspected him of seeing one of the nymphs. Echo's chattering kept Hera diverted from her investigation as all nymphs left. Hera turned against Echo in rage. She condemned her never to use her tongue again except to repeat what was said to her.
"You will never initiate a conversation; you will always have the last word."

As Echo followed Narcissus one day in the woods, he became lost. He looked around and cried out, "Does anyone know the way out of the woods?" Echo softly cried, "The woods!"
"Yes, I'm lost and need to know the way out of the woods."
"The woods!"
"Don't you understand? Help me find the way out of the woods."
"The woods!"

Echo ran to him and threw herself at his feet! Narcissus, confused, picked her up and said, "Oh, you are just like all the other nymphs who try to kiss me and tell me 'I love you.'"
"Love you!"

Her pushed her away, turned and went on his way. Echo prayed for help silently. Nemesis, the goddess of righteous anger, heard Echo's prayer, for prayers to not have to be spoken to be heard and replied, "May he who loves not others love himself."
As Narcissus bent over a pool for a drink, he saw there his own reflection and for a moment thought it was a beautiful nymph, as beautiful as he was handsome, and fill in love with it. He stayed by the pool vowing he would stay there until the nymph came out. Echo was nearby and heard Narcissus' plea, "Won't you ever come out?"
"Come out!"
As Narcissus came close to dying, he faintly cried, "Farewell!"
"Farewell!"

Narcissus became a very handsome flower whose head bends toward the water rather than the sun. The flower, narcissus, is a daffodil, one whose flowers have a short corona and are usually borne separately. The word "narcissism" means egoism, love of oneself.

So after quite a bit of waiting to hear what former Hellblazer writer Warren Ellis thought of the Constantine script (he teased that he'd read it months ago), he finally gets to it over at Millarworld. There's a quote and discussion over at the HB forums. It's spoilery so I won't post it here, but I will tell you that he didn't think much of it. Which is not suprising, really. It's already been established that Hollywood has worked over the thing pretty thoroughly and that Hellblazer purists weren't going to be pleased. I even voiced concern about Akiva "Let's make it a giant mechanical spider!" Goldsman being involved. But after reading various things from director Francis Lawrence and others involved with the project and seeing the trailer, I still feel pretty good about the fact that I, along with the general moviegoing masses, will enjoy the film.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): [Note: In the spirit of the epic yet mysterious turning point you're at, Virgo, I'm providing you with an extravagant yet cryptic oracle. Read it with the nonlinear side of your brain.] Your escape from the false "home" is imminent. Are you ready to change about 10 percent of your mind about who you really are and 20 percent of your mind about where you truly belong? Regard it as a lucky sign if the prospect of fresh freedom rouses an ancient fear. It means you're close to finding the lost key to the kingdom of childhood, which is also the key to the secret garden of adulthood.

You can't tell yet, but I've been working on the Vibemerchants site and hopefully we will get some more music mixed down and uploaded soon, along with the cheesy band bios and stuff. I want to get the site ready for public consumption by next week.

We'll be the first of three bands so the set will probably be about 6 or 7 songs, although we can play for an hour if need be. An hour and a half if we do our 25 minute version of Zombie.

Eric was in town over the weekend and came to see us rehearse. We had a great time Sunday night and he actually ended up "producing" on one of our newest songs. He liked us enough to talk about us coming up to Seattle to do a gig in September. How exciting is that?

Dave says that we're at the top of the hill and the parking brake has just been released. Damn his scary analogies.

Yeah, I'm a little nervous but that's slowly being turned into excitement. Every practice we get a little better and the feedback we've gotten from friends and family so far is good. Everyone says we're ready so all I can do is make sure I know the songs backwards and forwards and try not to freak out.

"I wanted to start a series of articles called "The Matrix and The Mater" because a number of my readers are women and they have expressed considerable interest in these themes. Elsewhere, I have written about the white, male privilege as depicted by the Agents, and the issues of patriarchy as depicted by the Architect (perhaps Derrida would say the Patriarchitect). But I had never explored the feminist themes strictly for their own sake, and upon further study, I discovered a gold mine of insights into the movies."

The series will be in four parts, stay tuned to Stephen's website or the much-easier-on-the-retinas Matrix 101, which is chock full of all sorts of Matrixy goodness. I especially like the "Did You Know?" feature.

Of course, you can go to the TH page just to see that great smile of his and then go directly to AngelWear.com and order your own. That way you're a guarenteed winner!

Keanu created two designs "Zen" and "Peace" for AngelWear to benefit the City of Hope charity. I have the light colored "Zen" one in a regular t-shirt (thanks to ~L), but I think I may have to pick up one of the new fitted "soft-tees" in black with the "Peace" design.

Keanu A-Z reports that the SCORE website has a video clip of a news story on last summer's NHL-Hollywood game. There's some great footage of Keanu and Paulie goofing pre-game. Go here and scroll down for links to the clip in Real Media and Quicktime formats and some photos too.